Penguins - Spy in the Huddle

Image Source: BBC

I like a good David Attenborough doco as much as the next biologist and animal lover. But sometimes you're just not in the mood for watching nature at its harshest and bloodiest.

The BBC's 'Penguins - Spy in the Huddle' is the most captivating heart-warming nature documentary that I have ever seen. We follow the early lives of Rockhopper, Humboldt, and Emperor penguin, as they grow up in this dangerous world.

Luckily, we have an insider's view. 'Egg cam', 'chick cam', and 'rock cam' show us the Penguins' world through hidden cameras. The technical expertise is inspiring, with imitation penguin robots able to right themselves when toppled over by over-zealous feathered admirers. 'Rockhopper cam' in particular resembles something out of one of the 'Saw' videos, so who can blame the penguins for questioning the intrusion.

This bird's eye view of the birds adds an element of humour. We see childless Rockhoppers attempting to nuture egg cam, and single birds flirting with the imposters. Here we see the first ever footage of a penguin colony filmed from a camera hidden inside a fake egg, flown through the sky by a bird.

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How people in science see each other (created by @biomatushiq) on Twitpic

How people in science see each other (created by @biomatushiq) on Twitpic.

Ok, so this went round awhile ago, but I'm still laughing at it.

Where do I fit into this?

Recently a technician, now a PhD student.

I recently celebrated the passage of another year. I definitely look at the smooth-faced undergraduates that annoyingly fill the hallways during all times of the day a think 'OMG where did the time go?' Such babies, they think it's uber cool themselves into a stupor and 'like' everything, even in the middle of a sentence. LOL! at the Einstein-ian view of undergraduate peers. Did I ever think I knew everything?

Although I'm not exactly 'old', your typical PhD student is younger than me. After all, a first year PhD student over this side of the world is typically 21 or so. From my point of view then, I feel slightly alienated from the doctoral crowd.

But as a recently 'retired' technician, I definitely wouldn't classify myself as a 'career technician' ready to settle down with Mr Hot Family Man and start replicating my own DNA inside myself as well as in the lab.

Every time I attempt an experiment I feel like I'm sticking a folk in the power socket, and so for self-preservation purposes, perhaps it's good to know that others more experienced than me can see this. Right now, my supervisor doesn't seem so bad, but maybe soon I'll feel like he's got me bound up in chains. And of course there's the whole 'pulling your hair out' stage, which PhD students talk about to each other, but I probably don't appreciate quite yet.

Like your style @biomatushiq!

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